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Jenni’s mouth formed an “o” as she understood what Katie was telling her. “The neighbor. . . ”

“I think she went over to see if he was okay. I saw him when I went home after being attacked. He was attacking the mail man, too. ” Katie shoved her hair back from her face, holding her head, her eyes unfocused as she remembered the painful moment. “That is my second regret. I didn’t kill the zombie Lydia had become. I didn’t give her peace. ”

Gripping Katie’s hand tightly, Jenni kissed her fingers. “I think you gave her more peace than you know. I think she’s okay. In fact, I dreamed about her a few nights ago. ”

Katie arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah, she was telling me that I had to make some hard choices soon. ”

Jenni didn’t think Katie’s eyes could widen anymore than they were.

“Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Travis dreamed about her and she said something really similar. ”

This didn’t surprise Jenni. She was now convinced that she was fulfilling her destiny in a way she did not understand. The mall had forced her to face some terrible demons from her past, but now she had laid them to rest. She couldn’t live with guilt or regret or fear. Fear had stolen too many precious opportunities from her as it was. She now realized that what she had been running from was exactly what she needed to confront.

For the first time since the zombies rose, she felt sane. She felt solid inside of her own mind. No, she was not the Jenni that existed before she married that wife-abusing asshole, but she also wasn’t the abused housewife anymore. She wasn’t even the loca zombie killer, trying to get revenge against the dead for the death of her family. Strangely, she now realized after a few days in the mall that she was more than the sum total of her life’s heartbreaks and torments. Looking into the faces of the people around her, she accepted that she was stronger than she ever realized and the choices she made had to be her own. She could no longer let life just sweep her along.

“What is it, Jenni? You look odd. ”

“I’m okay. Probably better than I have been in a long time,” Jenni answered. “I figured a lot out while here. Seeing what could have been, pondering what could have happened. I’ve been in loca mode so much since it all went down, I don’t think it ever hit me that maybe I am still alive because my life is important in some way I don’t understand. ” She fingered the rosary around her neck. Juan’s mother had given it to her before she had left for the hospital. “Do you ever feel that way?”

Katie smiled slightly. “I always felt I was supposed to save you. That it was my destiny. Or maybe just a way to keep me focused so I would survive that first day. ”

“My grandmother always told me that God had a plan for everyone’s life.

I don’t think I really believed her until now. But then again, I don’t think the world was supposed to die. I don’t think that was God, but man. I think we did it. ”

“Probably. ” Katie twirled her wedding ring around her finger thoughtfully. “Lydia was a Buddhist. I was raised Methodist. We didn’t get into a lot of spiritual talks, but we did agree that this life is precious and that we need to do our best, be our best in this lifetime. When I saw she was dead, I felt so lost. And then I heard you scream. And there you were. I could save you. And by saving you, I saved myself. ”

Jenni took Katie’s hands gently in her own. “We’re saving these people tomorrow and in a way I think we’re saving ourselves. We’re making a new world for all of us. ”

“It won’t be easy,” Katie reminded her.

“Nah, but it will be the right thing. ” Jenni grinned and kissed her friend’s hands again. Pressing her cheek against Katie’s palms, she closed her eyes, sighing. “I like that. Doing the right thing. ”

Katie smiled down at her. “It’s the only thing we can do. ”

Pulling away and lying down on her cot, Jenni sighed with contentment.

“I can’t wait to see Juan tomorrow. I want him to see I’m okay now. No more fear. No more regrets. I’m okay now. ” The thought of telling him those words made her smile. “Tomorrow will be a beautiful day. ”

* * * * * Outside, the moon rose. The pale white light flowed over the undead gathered around the mall, smashing their hands against the once white wall now a mottled black and dark red. Inside, the moonlight poured through the mall skylights washing over the sleeping forms of the people tucked away inside.

2. Exit the Wickedest Woman in Texas

In the gray dawn, the Senator and her people quietly walked down the employee staircase to the floor below. One of her guards swung the double doors open and she stepped out in front of the blacked out doors that were the main entrance of the mall. She stood at the pinnacle of the top of the “A” shape of the mall and smiled to herself.

“Sure about this?” Raleigh asked.

“Very sure,” she answered.

The Major General was awkwardly absent, but she had explained he had second thoughts and had chosen to remain behind. In reality, they had fallen into a horrible row and she had shot him through the head without a second thought. She didn’t have time for his bullshit.

The painted blackened door swung open and the low moan of the zombies beyond the wall filled her ears for a moment. One of her men entered, looking flushed and anxious.